Moneygall

Moneygall Muine Gall
—  Village  —
Main Street, Moneygall
Moneygall Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°52′48″N 7°57′23″W / 52.879977°N 7.956313°W / 52.879977; -7.956313Coordinates: 52°52′48″N 7°57′23″W / 52.879977°N 7.956313°W / 52.879977; -7.956313
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	County Offaly
Government
- Dáil Éireann	Tipperary North
Population (2006)
- Urban	298
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
- Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	S028811

Moneygall (Irish: Muine Gall, meaning "foreigners' thicket")^[1] is a small village on the border of counties Offaly and North Tipperary, in Ireland. It is situated on the R445 road between Dublin and Limerick. At the time of the 2006 census, the village had a population of 298. Moneygall has a Catholic church, five shops, a post office, a national school, a Garda station and two pubs.^[2] The nearest Church of Ireland church, Borrisnafarney, is 2 km from the village beside the former Loughton Demense.^[3][4]

While most of the village is located in County Offaly, the Gaelic Athletic Association (G.A.A.) playing field is located in County Tipperary and Moneygall play in the Tipperary Hurling Championship. As of the general election in 2011, Moneygall is also part of the Tipperary North constituency.

Transport

The R445 Limerick to Dublin road passes through Moneygall

The village is by-passed by the M7 motorway. Junction 23 on the M7 just to the east of the village allows access to the motorway.

The main Bus Éireann route 12 between Limerick and Dublin passes through Moneygall. Regular services run each hour so the town is well served.^[5] Additional bus services are provided by JJ Kavanagh and Sons^[6]. There is no train station in the town but the nearest stations are in Nenagh, Cloughjordan and Roscrea, all on the Ballybrophy to Limerick line, a feeder service to the main Cork to Dublin line, operated by Iarnród Éireann.^[7] There are two airstrips nearby one of which is Moneygall Aerodrome The closest airport with scheduled passenger services is Shannon Airport in Shannon, County Clare. Dublin Airport is easily accessible with direct Bus Éireann services.

Education

There is one Catholic national school in the village. The former Church of Ireland School (now used as a parish hall) was built in 1888 beside the Borrisokane turn-off, and closed in 1976, when its pupils were transferred to the neighbouring village of Cloughjordan. An earlier building,^[8] constructed around 1800, was previously used as a school. It was then used by the local Church of Ireland community as a chapel of ease until the late 1970s. It has now been converted to a private residence.

Children travel mainly to either Roscrea or Nenagh for secondary schooling. The nearest third-level institutions are Tipperary Institute in Thurles or the University of Limerick, Limerick Institute of Technology and Mary Immaculate College, all of which are in Limerick.

Visit by Barack Obama

Falmouth Kearney, a maternal great-great-great grandfather of Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America, emigrated from Moneygall to New York City at the age of 19 in 1850, near the end of the Great Famine, and eventually resettled in Tipton County, Indiana.^[9] Kearney's father, Joseph, had been the village shoemaker, then a prosperous, skilled trade. The whole Kearney family emigrated to Ross County, Ohio, in the first half of the 19th century. Falmouth Kearney's youngest daughter, Mary Ann, moved from Indiana to Kansas after her father's death in 1878. Mary Ann Kearney is a paternal grandmother of Stanley Dunham, President Obama's maternal grandfather.

On 23 May 2011, Obama and his First Lady, Michelle Obama, visited Moneygall as part of a visit to Ireland.^[10] The Obamas arrived to a rapturous reception by 5,000 people. The President was greeted upon arrival by Henry Healy, his distant cousin, and following a walkabout on the main street where they shook hands with many local residents, the Obamas entered a house that had been built on the site where Falmouth Kearney had lived. Afterwards, they visited Ollie Hayes's pub to meet more of the President's distant relatives and to study the birth records of his ancestors. President and Mrs. Obama drank Irish stout to the traditional toast, sláinte (meaning "good health"), and Mrs. Obama went behind the bar to learn how to pull a pint.^[11][12][13]

Presidential helicopter "Marine One" flies to Moneygall  Henry Healy greets his distant cousin, Barack Obama  A large crowd watches President Obama's approach  President Obama greeted by crowds in Moneygall  Stephen Neill shows Obama his ancestral records  Michelle Obama pours a pint of stout

See also

• List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland
• List of towns in Northern Ireland
• Immigration to the United States

References

1. ^ Moneygall Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved: 2011-05-24.
2. ^ Offaly County Council website
3. ^ Church of Ireland website
4. ^ Irish National Inventory of Architectural Heritage website
5. ^ http://www.buseireann.ie
6. ^ http://www.jjkavanagh.ie/en/timetables/scheduled-services
7. ^ http://www.irishrail.ie
8. ^ Irish National Inventory of Architectural Heritage website
9. ^ BBC website
10. ^ "US President arrives at Moneygall". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 23 May 2011. http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0523/obamab.html. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
11. ^ The day O'bama stormed Moneygall Irish Times, 2011-05-24.
12. ^ President Barack Obama watches as First Lady Michelle Obama draws a pint White House Flickr account, 2011-05-23.
13. ^ Barack And Michelle Obama Pour Guinness Business Insider, 2011-05-23.

External links

• Picture album of President Obama's visit, Offaly County Council
• President Barack Obama And First Lady Michelle Obama Visit Ireland, White House picture album of the Obamas' visit